Roundbury

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Linkinhorne

In the civil parish of Linkinhorne.
In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

Ring Motte and Bailey. A inner work is approximately 115 by 80m with a 1.4m high outer bank and a 0.5m high inner scarp. There is a crescent shaped outer work to the west the ends of which almost abut the inner work on the north and south sides. Difficult to understand why this site is so little referenced. Presumably it has been assumed to be an IA hill fort. It is a hill top site not near settlement but close to a road. This is an area of non nuclated settlement and the site is a mile from the parish church

This site has been described as a Timber Castle.

These are the earthwork and timber castles of the motte and bailey or ringwork form which where the vast majority of castles of the early conquest period, of the Marches in the 11th and 12th centuries and of the period during the reign of Stephen known as the Anarchy. They were generally fairly short lived, although some such castles survived for centuries, with the timber buildings and defences being replaced on occasions sometimes in timber and sometimes in Masonry (Alderton Castle in Northamptonshire was shown in a Time Team excavation to have been built about 1070 and to still have been having high status visitors in the C15-a fine piece of enamels horse harness being found in the gatehouse). Some of the smaller low mottes may have been adapted into moated manor houses, whilst others where abandoned and replaced by manor houses of a more comfortable and domestic nature. Timber castles varied greatly in size with some being massive constructions clearly deserving the term castle, whilst other were small mounds of minor knights and had a similar size, function and social status as the later pele towers. These small mottes are called 'castle' but this could be considered a rather loose use of the term.

The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.

Earthworks remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX31187252

Modern Map from

Good for landscape form and features

Modern Map from

Good for general location

Air Photo from

1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 436900

Books
- Page, Wm (ed), 1906, VCH Cornwall Vol1 p466
Journal Articles
- Peter, O.B., 1902, Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall Vol15 p114

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.